First Merchants to establish regional HQ in Indianapolis with $18M office purchase

Muncie-based First Merchants Corp. is growing its presence in Indianapolis with a new regional headquarters on the city’s north side, the company announced Wednesday.

The parent of First Merchants Bank said it will invest about $18 million to acquire the former Duke Realty building at Keystone at the Crossing. The bank will relocate about 175 existing jobs to the new location, with 100 new jobs expected to be added over the next five years.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have this type of marquee building in such a prime location,” said CEO Mark Hardwick.

Hardwick said there were a number of reasons for establishing the location.

“Probably the most important was just creating a work environment that we thought would be an attraction point for an employee base,” Hardwick said. “You think about all of the things that we’re doing that are focused on creating an inclusive work environment, where we have great teamwork, great collaboration, and just the space to effectively work together, it was the primary motivation.”

He said the bank also wanted to create a space where people would want to come into the office and be encouraged by the ability to work closely with their colleagues in an age where remote work is becoming more common.

“[We’re] really enthusiastic that we were able to find such a such an amazing kind of modern, state-of-the-art building that was really move-in ready.”

The four-story, 78,000-square-foot building at 8711 River Crossing Blvd. was built in 2020 to serve as the headquarters for Duke Realty Corp. However, the office space did not get much use due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And in June 2022, Duke announced it was being acquired by its main competitor, San Francisco-based Prologis Inc., in a $26 billion deal. Prologis then put the building on the market as Duke employees moved into its headquarters just down the road.

The building also has a Bru Burger Bar location on the first floor. Hardwick said the availability of the space was incredibly attractive.

“Duke Realty spent about $36 million on the construction and another several million on all the furniture and technology, etc.,” he said. “To have a modern, state-of-the-art building is expensive today; it will probably cost over $40 million to build from the ground up. And I feel like we were able to take advantage of … the current market conditions to move into a really modern, contemporary space.”

First Merchants will maintain its corporate headquarters in Muncie. The bank employs about 1,500 employees in Indiana, including about 550 in the Muncie area.

Hardwick said about 150 employees from the bank’s current location in Indianapolis will move into the new building, along with about 25 from various branch locations around the state.

The first employees are expected to move into the new location in late January, Hardwick said, with the full move expected to be complete by spring 2024.

“First Merchants Bank continues to strengthen its commitment to Indiana, and its growth is further enriching the lives of Hoosiers by providing high-quality careers,” Ann Lathrop, chief strategy officer for the Indiana Economic Development Corp., said in a news release. “This strategic expansion will not only generate new careers but will contribute to a bright future for communities in central Indiana.”

The new Indianapolis location adds to First Merchants’ existing regional headquarters in Fort Wayne, Lafayette and Munster in Indiana, as well as Columbus, Ohio, and Farmington Hills and Monroe in Michigan.

First Merchants is the seventh-largest bank in the area, with $3.4 billion Indianapolis-area FDIC deposits as of 2022, according to the latest IBJ research. It has more than 30 branches in Marion and surrounded counties.